Terry Gilliam - C/D, S/D

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David Warner, best evil supreme being wotsit ever.
And his sidekick (Ringo from Never the Twain) - "Thank you marster, THANNNK YOUUUUU!"

Funny, I watched Tideland just the other day. I feared it, kinda, but was surprised that I liked it. I liked it more on second viewing, and even more on third viewing with Gilliam commentary.
I loved the little girl in it, she was fab.

DavidM, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

Have they done a deluxe DVD remaster kind of thing for Time Bandits yet? There is this huge rift in the film/sound quality between Time Bandits and Baron Munchausen, at least in the versions I've seen most recently (both cable tv).

nickalicious, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

criterion, yeah

sexyDancer, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

yeah I just bought the Criterion DVD. its great

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

I think the weakness in Fear and Loathing is the source material. It's not really a story to begin with. It's an autobiographical expose on the American dream.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

maybe ...on the Campaign Trail woulda been a better source? (Also would've required an appearance of my favorite president-as-comedy-source-material, Nixon) How would people rate it next to "Where the Buffalo Roam"?

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

I'll agree that most of his films are big clusterfucks, yet I've liked most that I've seen - even the Fisher King (Williams & love story derailment were problematic), 12 Monkeys, and Fear & Loathing. I loved Brazil. I haven't seen Time Bandits and I'm thinking this needs to be remedied asap.

will, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

love story derailment is best part

and what, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

I'm curious what makes you say that

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

do you have a crush on Amanda Plummer?

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

Am I missing something here? Isn't the love story basically what finding the grail is supposed to be about? I don't see it as a derailment at all.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

Amanda plummer is totally crush-worthy. Very cute in a mousy, neurotic sort of way.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

maybe the way it was handled? (in all honesty I don't think I've seen it 12 years or so.) Or maybe it was just Williams in general...

will, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

I remember there being a dramatic shift in tone (and also a leap in time, I think?) where the plot shifts from Bridges' quest for redemption to him trying to help Williams' consummate his crush on Plummer. Which goes on forever and is eventually unsuccessful - followed by flashback to Williams' wife's murder and then, "hey! remember that Grail thing you used to be looking for? OHHHHHH... YEAH!"

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

I forget where the naked Williams' ass-rubbing scene falls in there

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

No conflict to hang a dramatic arc on, just a lot of ranting.

otm -- you definitely get tired of hanging around with these nuts after a while. Only so many times you can say "WTF THAT IS CR-AAAAAAZAY!" before you just want to get away.

kenan, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

you can't really "turn off" acid, true.

sexyDancer, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

fear and loathing is the only really good one. best movie on the '60s ever.

J.D., Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

it's also the least python-like of his films, i think (bcz HST and MP worldviews are totally irreconcilable! haha).

J.D., Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:03 (nineteen years ago)

care to elaborate on yr um, minority opinion there? I can think of a bunch of better movies on the 60s easily (Medium Cool springs to mind, shit even JFK is more fun)

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:06 (nineteen years ago)

LOL @ people complaining about Fear And Loathing's lack of narrative arc.

the next grozart, Friday, 4 May 2007 08:24 (nineteen years ago)

GUYS terry gilliam went to my college! he started a pretty sweet arts magazine and used to do xlnt illustrations for it--the library still has old copies; v. cool to go look them up and see his style begin to evolve.

max, Friday, 4 May 2007 08:57 (nineteen years ago)

How would people rate it next to "Where the Buffalo Roam"?

Fear and Loathing... is much better, imo. Johnny Depp makes a far better HST than Bill Murray.

Neil S, Friday, 4 May 2007 09:31 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno, it was all downhill after del Toro's freakout in the bathtub (still his career highlight). Except for the "receding wave" monolgue, I guess; that worked. It kinda converted the book into shtick otherwise (that highway cop asking for a kiss being the worst example).

Dr Morbius, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

OK SO TIDELAND IS THE WORST MOVIE EVER EVER EVER PRETTY MUCH.

This is coming from someone who has great respect for Gilliam in general, but seriously, dude, the next time you want to put yourself through some sort of aggressive theraputic "finding yourself as a child" bullshit, leave it for the Terry Gilliam home video collection.

This movie is irredeemable. I watched it last night, and I'm still angry about it.

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

You and Jeff should have liveblogged, then.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it wasn't the fun kind of bad though.

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

Well it could have been like a Beckett play, then.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

Odd, seemingly insulting but not intended as such bit of trivia: Mentally handicapped weirdo sea-captain neighbor who lives next door looks strangely similar to ILX's own Tuomas.

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

http://lembrowski.webblogg.se/images/tideland_1156706345.jpg

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

haha I thought that too JJ

nickalicious, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.moviehabit.com/photos/tideland_150.jpg

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:52 (nineteen years ago)

That bad, huh? I am not looking forward to seeing Tideland. But I will, anyway.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

This is one of those few times where I actually wish that I hadn't seen a movie, because after this and "Brothers Grimm", I think I'm going to be incapable of speaking of Gilliam as a great director in the present tense.

Maybe the Don Quixote curse actually finished him off. I know this, I doubt I'll make an effort to see anything he does from here on out.

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

Munchausen and Time Bandits Gilliam's best? This seems like perversity for the sake of perversity.

I love Terry Gilliam, although the two movies above did very little for me. 12 monkeys, Brazil and the Fisher King, on the other hand, are among my favourite films ever. 12 monkeys predictable? Really? Wow - you have fine prediction skills.

hobart paving, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

Hey FB, the best way I can describe it is that "Tideland" is Gilliam trying to make "The Reflecting Skin" without the story to back it up, the actors to pull it off, or the courage to commit to making a disturbing movie without softening the harsh edges with over-bearing cute kid moments and (I kid you not) overuse of fart jokes.

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh. I'm trying to convince myself to move this movie out of my queue, but, you know, it's TG, so I'm having a hard time letting go.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

I guess there really is a Tuomas after all!

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

I like Time Bandits best.

chap, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

John, so you're saying that he movie falls from the perverse to the ugly by virtue of his inability to make up his mind what this movie is about, and by generally inadequate artistic direction.

(I'm trying to talk myself out of this)

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:34 (nineteen years ago)

I'll admit, I suspect it isn't as bad as I feel it is now, so I guess it's worth watching. It was just one of those visceral, angry moments of disappointment in watching a director completely fumble.

It is possible that the source material is a significant part of the problem. It is at times a very visually stunning movie, and there are moments that do work, but it still ended up as a half-assed Lynch film with no underlying psychology, or a movie with such a private language that it feels intentionally and mean-spiritedly incomprehensible.

xpost, but probably an answer of sorts.

John Justen, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

His cartoons on Monty Python are by far my least favorite part of the show. I always fast forward. Sorry to distract from filmic convo. I just had to get that off my chest.

Abbott, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah in retrospect I can't quite fathom how a movie featuring a farting taxidermied dead The Dude wasn't at all funny.

nickalicious, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

Peter Stormare was funny as shit in Brothers Grimm.

nickalicious, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

Fuck it. I liked Tideland, even if no one else on ILX did.

I also think the animated Python bits are sometimes the best bits of the show.

the next grozart, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:44 (nineteen years ago)

Talking about the possibilities for a Terry Gilliam movie is almost always superior to watching a Terry Gilliam movie. Fear and Loathing is entertaining in small doses and 12 Monkeys is probably OK - but I can't think of anything else I've seen that was passable. (Have not seen Brazil.)

milo z, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:48 (nineteen years ago)

abbott u crazy

max, Friday, 8 June 2007 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

12 Monkeys is wonderful, as is Brazil, although Brazil's wonder is completely overshadowed by the final shot, which obliterates more or less all that came before it in a devastating emotional smackdown. One of the finest endings in film history IMO.

Just got offed, Friday, 8 June 2007 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

Brazil: absolute Classic!

Fear and Loathing in Las vegas: Absolute Dud!

very much polar extremes in terms of quality (Not that the latter is of low quality, it's made quite well, I just depsise it).

mehlt, Saturday, 9 June 2007 04:08 (nineteen years ago)

Somebody besides me has seen The Reflecting Skin? Holy cow.

Best Amanda Plummer mini-performance: The Prophecy, being yanked around by Christopher Walken's Gabriel.

The Fisher King would be in my top 25 favorite films of all time. Also love 12 Monkeys, Brazil, Time Bandits. Just saw Brothers Grimm this week and eh. It had some good moments. Heath Ledger was surprisingly good.

Hey Jude, Monday, 11 June 2007 03:37 (nineteen years ago)

the last one that entirely satisfied me was Time Bandits

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 29 August 2019 21:26 (six years ago)

I would say Brazil but... yeah

Οὖτις, Thursday, 29 August 2019 21:37 (six years ago)

no wait I mean Baron Munchausen

Οὖτις, Thursday, 29 August 2019 21:37 (six years ago)

twelve monkeys and id listen to a case for parnassus

theRZA the JZA and the NDB (darraghmac), Thursday, 29 August 2019 22:01 (six years ago)

Time Bandits is my fave - what a batshit movie. But I really like 12 Monkeys and Fisher King.

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 August 2019 22:07 (six years ago)

two years pass...

Very well written. Also solves the puzzle of why she didn’t use any explosives in Stories We Tell.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 13 June 2022 03:54 (four years ago)


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